Angry White Former Google Engineer Sues The Tech Giant

There’s a connection between this suit and a larger movement that fuels Trump’s presidency.

The fired Google programmer who disparaged female engineers filed a class-action suit on Monday against the tech giant on behalf of conservative White men, The Hill Reported. This lawsuit is an example of what happens when some White men see their privilege slipping away.

“Damore, Gudeman, and other class members were ostracized, belittled, and punished for their heterodox political views, and for the added sin of their birth circumstances of being Caucasians and/or males. This is the essence of discrimination—Google formed opinions about and then treated Plaintiffs not based on their individual merits, but rather on their membership in groups with assumed characteristics,” the lawsuit stated.

James Damore, who has been defended by many conservatives, circulated a memo that said biological differences between men and women are responsible for the gender gap in the technology industry. “We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” Damore wrote, as he criticized the company’s diversity program aimed at recruiting and elevating and women, Blacks and Latino employees. That memo didn’t sit well with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who penned a response before terminating Damore.

It’s easy to dismiss Damore as an angry White man having a tantrum because someone has taken away what he thinks he deserves. But Damore is part of a broader group, some of them marched with tiki torches in Charlottesville, that feels liberals (including liberal White men) are establishing a new order that knocks them from the top rung of society. Damore believes that there’s no place in Silicon Valley for conservative White men who believe that women and racial minorities are incapable of doing the job. Those like Damore connect with Trump’s vision for America.